The Boy With Two Hearts

The project

Herat, Afghanistan, 2000.

When a young mother speaks out against the Taliban, she and her husband are forced to flee their home and country with their three sons.

Embarking on a long and terrifying journey across Russia and through Europe, they seek final refuge in the UK.

But, as their eldest son’s life-threatening heart condition worsens and requires urgent surgery, their escape soon becomes a race against time.

The brief

The Boy with Two Hearts was developed by Wales Millenium Centre, with the designs developed in a run of previews in Cardiff before moving to the National Theatre. The set and technical systems needed to be able to work across both venues - creating a powerful cohesive design across all departments. Accessibility also stood at the forefront of the production requirements, with creative captioning and audio description available for every performance.

The solution

Working with Designer Hayley Grindle, the set was developed to fit seamlessley into the existing structure at the Dorfman Theatre, while also being able to self support while at Cardiff. Although the production was a remount, a set rebuild was required to meet these requirements - with additional features such as a ‘ceiling’ of clothes being integrated into the new look. Working with Lighting Designer Amy Mae, a lighting rig was developed for the Cardiff venue that provided the flexibility of the Dorfman rig while fitting within a tight budget requirement - which allowed time to develop creative concepts ahead of the London run. Video Designer Hayley Egan and Sound Designer Tic Ashfield worked to complete the design, with inidividual mic’ing of each performer, creative captioning throughout the performance and an audio description track that was available for each performance.